Welcome to Staten News, where Milwaukee did something it hadn't done in 44 years and needed only four games to do it.
⚾ Four Games, No Answers
The Brewers beat the Dodgers 6-4 Thursday night at Dodger Stadium and finished a 4-0 sweep of the NLCS. Milwaukee is going to the World Series for the first time since 1982.
Los Angeles had this one early. Shohei Ohtani homered in the second inning, and the Dodgers led 4-0 before Milwaukee had done anything. Then the Brewers started chipping.
Bauers hit a two-run ground-rule double in the fourth. Hamilton singled in a run in the fifth, and Bauers drew a bases-loaded walk to tie it at 4. In the sixth, Garrett Mitchell took Tanner Scott deep for the go-ahead homer, and Hamilton added a solo shot in the ninth for breathing room.
Milwaukee won with five hits. Five.
Hamilton went 2-for-4 with a homer, two RBI and two runs scored. Bauers finished 1-for-3 with three RBI without hitting a ball over the fence. Romero got the win with two scoreless innings and three strikeouts, and Aaron Ashby closed it with three innings of scoreless relief for the save.
The series line tells it all: 2-1, 7-4, 6-2, 6-4. The Brewers outscored the Dodgers 21-11 across four games. That's not a hot streak. That's a team that was better for an entire week.
🎯 Cleveland Wins the Pitching Fight
Over in the ALCS, the Guardians took Game 3 from Tampa Bay 3-2 at Progressive Field and lead the series 2-1. Cleveland won Game 1 7-3, and the Rays answered with a 3-1 win in Game 2.
Gavin Williams carried Thursday. He went five innings, allowed two hits and two runs, and struck out nine, which puts him at 2-0 this postseason. The Rays grabbed a 2-1 lead in the fourth before Halpin answered in the fifth with a two-run homer to right-center that held up the rest of the night.
Tampa Bay's bullpen did its job. T. Wells and S. Matz combined for four scoreless innings and six strikeouts after Griffin Jax took the loss (4 innings, 3 earned runs). It didn't matter. The Rays managed three hits all night, and Cade Smith got the final four outs for his second save.
📅 The Weekend Slate
Because Milwaukee clinched early, the Brewers get to sit back and watch the American League beat itself up. Here's what's on:
ALCS Game 4: Rays at Guardians, Friday, 6 p.m. ET (TBS, truTV, HBO Max). Bad weather is in the Cleveland forecast.
ALCS Game 5: Rays at Guardians, Saturday, 8 p.m. ET (TBS, truTV, HBO Max).
Giants vs. Saints: Sunday, 1 p.m. ET at home (FOX).
Jets at Patriots: Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (CBS).
World Series Game 1: Friday, October 23, Brewers vs. the ALCS winner (Fox).
💰 The Angle
Cleveland is one win from a 3-1 lead with two more home games on the board. A Game 4 win puts real pressure on Tampa Bay, which managed three hits in Game 3 and can't keep asking its bullpen to cover for that.
The bigger edge belongs to Milwaukee. The Brewers last played Thursday, and Game 1 is eight days later. If the ALCS goes long, the AL champion shows up with a tired bullpen against a team whose relievers just threw five scoreless innings in a clinching game and then got a week of rest.
Rest versus rust is a real debate. But Milwaukee's bullpen just closed out the Dodgers on the road, and that's not a group that looks like it needs to stay sharp by playing.
This is the weekend that decides who gets the Brewers, and how tired they are when they get there.
Sources: ESPN Brewers-Dodgers box score, ESPN Rays-Guardians box score, CBS Sports playoff schedule, NBC New York Giants and Jets schedule
— The Bandicoots ⚾🏆